Mixed Crop Livestock Research Articles

Spatiotemporal analysis of rainfall and temperature variability and trends for a mixed crop-livestock production system: its implications for developing adaptation strategies

Spatiotemporal analysis of rainfall and temperature variability and trends for a mixed crop-livestock production system: its implications for developing adaptation strategies

Assessment of livestock husbandry practices and production constraints among smallholder mixed crop-livestock production systems in the Majang zone, southwest Ethiopia

Livestock production plays a significant role in improving the livelihoods of poor smallholder farmer households in the Majang zone. However, despite its importance, there is limited information on husbandry practices and constraints on livestock production to design and implement effective interventions to maximize productivity. The aim of this study was to assess husbandry practices and major constraints on livestock production in the Majang zone, southwest Ethiopia. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data from a randomly selected sample of 168 households (HHs) through a face-to-face interview from January to May 2021. The results revealed that mixed crop-livestock farming is the dominant livestock production system in the study area. The overall average herd size per household (HH) was 2.15 ± 0.11 cattle, 0.15 ± 0.01 sheep, 0.31 ± 0.09 goats, 0.10 ± 0.02 donkey, 0.04 ± 0.00 mule, 0.13 ± 0.02 horses and 0.24 ± 0.02 chickens. Overall herd size did not differ significantly by AEZ except for sheep (p < 0.05). The primary reason for keeping cattle, goats, sheep, equines and poultry were milk production (27.4 %), meat for home consumption (33.9 %), cash income (33.3 %), transportation (85.1 %), and meat for home consumption (72 %), respectively. In the dry and wet seasons, natural pasture, crop residues, indigenous fodder trees and shrubs (IFTSs), nonconventional feed resources (NCFRs), crop stubbles and improved forages were the main livestock feed resources. The majority (60.1 %) of respondents practiced free-grazing systems. Separate sheds, family dwellings, kraals, and open-walled sheds were the main housing systems used for animals. The majority (79.2 %) of respondents used rivers as a source of livestock drinking water. Trypanosomiasis (18.45 %), African horse sickness (66.1 %) and Newcastle disease (47.02 %) were the most important diseases of livestock. Diseases (35.7 %), lack of access to artificial insemination (35.7 %) and inadequate veterinary services (11.3 %) were identified as the top three constraints limiting production. It is recommended that constraints identified by farmers should be considered in developing and implementing effective interventions to improve livestock productivity and their contribution to poverty alleviation in the study area.

Production system analysis and breeding practices of indigenous goats in North Wollo zone, Amhara region, Ethiopia

ABSTRACT This study describes the goat production system and breeding practices in selected districts of North Wollo zone, Ethiopia. Data were collected from 180 respondents through a semi-structured questionnaire and group discussions. Descriptive and GLM procedures were employed for data analysis. A mixed crop-livestock production system was the main production system in the area. The mean number of goats per household is 9.66 and they are mainly kept for cash income and meat consumption. The flock structure of indigenous goats consisted of a large number of female goats. Natural pasture and crop residue were the major feed resources in the dry and wet seasons, with an overall mean of 37.53% and 54.26%, respectively. Feed shortage, diseases, and drought were the major constraints for goat production. Most goat owners (97.1%) practiced an uncontrolled mating system. Most farmers (88.93%) reported selecting breeding goats to be a parent for the next generation. Body conformation and coat colour were the preferred traits for the selection of goats. The current level of goat management and breeding methods would not significantly enhance goats’ productivity and profitability. Therefore, designing management and genetic improvement programmes would be vital to improving the productivity of indigenous goats.

Carbon footprint of mixed farming crop-livestock rotational-based grazing beef systems using long term experimental data

In the context of ever-growing demand for food and associated concerns regarding the environmental impacts of high-input agricultural systems, there is growing interest in mixed farm enterprises to deliver greater sustainability compared with mono-enterprise production systems. However, assessments of such systems are complex and require high-resolution data to determine the true value and interconnectivity across enterprises. Given the scarcity of information on mixed crop–livestock systems and the difficulties of its analysis, we perform life cycle assessment using temporally high-resolution data (2019–2022) from a long-term experiment in South America to evaluate the ‘cradle-to-farmgate exit’ greenhouse gas emissions intensities of four rotational crop–livestock systems. Systems evaluated were continuous cropping: 2 years of continuous cropping; short rotation: 2-year continuous cropping plus 2-year pasture; long rotation: 2-year continuous cropping followed by 4-year pasture; and forage rotation: continuous pasture. Emissions intensities for beef throughput were reported as kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2-eq) per kilogram of liveweight gain (LWG) using the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change’s Sixth Assessment Report (AR6 2021) CO2 characterisation factors. Point estimate results were found to be 11.3, 11.8, 11.8 and 16.4 kg CO2-eq/kg/LWG for continuous cropping, short rotation, long rotation and forage rotation, respectively. Emission averages arising from crops, which were separated from animal-based emissions using economic allocation, were 1.23, 0.53 and 0.52 kg CO2-eq/kg for soybean, wheat and oat, respectively. The inclusion of soil organic carbon stock changes had notable effects on reducing each system’s emissions: by 22.4%, 19.2%, 25.3% and 42.1% under continuous cropping, short rotation, long rotation and forage rotation, respectively, when soil organic carbon was included. Given there are few life cycle assessment studies available on such mixed-enterprise ‘semi-circular’ systems, particularly with novel primary data, this study adds critical knowledge to agri-food-related sustainability literature by addressing environmental issues in complex production systems compared to extant and broad coverage of mono-enterprise systems.

Determinants of the adoption of climate smart agriculture practices by smallholder wheat farmers in northwestern Ethiopia

Frequent climate variability and change had the strongest direct influences on the availability and accessibility of food through reducing agricultural productivity and cropping patterns. Despite the Ethiopian government having made substantial efforts to boost production and productivity through the introduction of Climate Smart Agriculture Practices (CSAPs), the implementation of these practices by smallholder wheat farmers has remained low. This study, therefore, tried to investigate the determinants of the adoption of CSAPs in Northwestern Ethiopia. The primary data were gathered from 385 randomly selected wheat producers (including 702 plot-level observations). The CSAPs considered in this investigation were wheat row planting, crop rotation, and improved wheat varieties. The factors that influence the adoption of CSAPs were determined using a multivariate probit (MVP) model. The results revealed that the age of the sampled wheat producer farmers, education level of sampled wheat farmers, livestock holding, contact with development agents, credit access, off-farm activities participation, distance to input supply institution, slope of the plot, and soil fertility status of the plot were the major determinants of the adoption of CSAPs. The study suggested that policy-makers and stakeholders should strengthen farmers’ skills by providing sufficient and effective short-term training. Moreover, encouraging mixed crop-livestock production systems, strengthening credit access, development agents, and access to near-input supply institutions are required to scale-up the adoption of CSAPs.

Milk Production, Quality Parameters, and Bacterial Colony Counts of Raw Milk from Murrah Buffaloes Reared in Mixed Crop-Livestock Systems

This research aimed to assess the quantity and quality of raw Murrah buffalo milk in a mixed crop-livestock farming system in North Sumatra, Indonesia. The study was conducted at the Sumber Ternak Abadi livestock farm in Pagar Merbau District, North Sumatra, Indonesia, established in 2012 within an oil palm plantation. The study observed 40 lactating Murrah buffaloes. Variables included milk production and quality metrics such as total plate count in colony-forming units per ml, water content percentage, total solids, fat content, and pH. Results demonstrated a milk yield standardized to 305 days ranging from 1,200.78±490.25 to 1,505.71±589.73 kg/head/lactation. The total plate count was 2.1 x 105 ± 0.32 CFU/ml, total solids were 16.87% (w/w), fat was 5.7% (v/v), and pH was 6.73. The results confirmed that the raw Murrah buffalo milk from the observed farm meets the Indonesian National Standard for milk quality. A significant positive correlation was found between water content and total bacterial colony count (r = 0.82, p &lt; 0.01), suggesting that higher water content in milk correlates with increased bacterial colonies.

Climate change variability adaptation and farmers decisions of farm exit and survival in Pakistan

Pakistan is listed among the countries that are extremely vulnerable to climate changes and it has experienced several climatic and natural disaster shocks with adverse impacts on its agricultural sector and farmers livelihoods. This study investigates adaptation to climate change as a means of farm survival and farm exit in Pakistan by using panel datasets and empirically employs Multinomial Logit Model (MLN) and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). The results reveal, first, farm experience significantly increases the likelihood of climate change adaptation and decreases the likelihood of farm exit. Second, land and livestock ownership both have positive and significant impact on farm survival with adaptation strategies and decrease the probability of farm exit. Third, climatic disasters have positive and significant impact on farm exit. Four, extension services have negative and significant impact on adaptation strategies and increase the probability of farm exit for those farms who did not receive climate change adaptation strategies information timely. Finally, TPB results illustrate that non-adapters climate change future intensions are affected by attitude, perceived behavioral control and subjective norms. The study findings bring scholars and policymakers attentions towards next level of climate change impact on farm exit, and are useful for farm survival and recruiting new farmers by promoting mixed-crop livestock production systems in the face of climate change, and during viral diseases such as Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD) of animals that caused a large number of animals deaths nationally and internationally.

Seroprevalence and risk factors of Peste des petits ruminants in different production systems in Uganda

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is a highly contagious and fatal disease of mostly domestic goats and sheep. First reported in Uganda in 2007, the extent of peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV) exposure, geographical distribution and risk factors of its transmission and spread are not clearly understood. In this study, we used cluster random sampling methodology to select study villages from three districts representing three different production systems along Uganda’s “cattle corridor”. Between October and December 2022, 2520 goat and sheep serum samples were collected from 252 households with no history of PPR vaccination in the past one year. The household heads were interviewed to assess possible risk factors of PPRV transmission using a structured questionnaire. The serum samples were screened with a commercial competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (cELISA) for PPRV antibodies. The determined overall true seroprevalence of PPRV was 27.3% [95% CI: 25.4–29.1]. The seroprevalence of PPRV antibodies in different production systems was 44.1% [95% CI: 40.6–47.7], 31.7% [95% CI: 28.4–35.0] and 6.1% [95% CI: 4.4–7.9] for pastoral, agropastoral and mixed crop-livestock production systems respectively. A mixed-effects multivariable logistic regression model revealed strong statistical evidence of association between female animals and PPRV antibody seropositivity compared to males [OR= 2.45, 95% CI: 1.7–3.5, p < 0.001]. The likelihood of being PPRV antibody seropositive significantly increased with increasing small ruminant age. Animals older than 3 years were more than three times as likely to be PPRV seropositive compared to animals aged under 1 year [OR= 3.41, 95% CI: 2.39–4.85, p < 0.001]. There was no statistical evidence of association between small ruminant species and PPRV antibody seropositivity (p = 0.423). Village flocks that interacted with neighboring flocks daily during grazing (IRR = 1.59, 95% CI: 1.19–2.13) and watering around swamps (IRR = 1.59, 95% CI: 1.19–2.13) were highly correlated with increased number of PPRV seropositive animals as compared to flocks that were more restricted in grazing and watered around other water sources other than swamps. Flocks from pastoral and agropastoral production systems were more than 10 times more likely to have seropositive animals than mixed crop-livestock flocks. Targeting PPR control interventions (vaccination and livestock movement control) to pastoral and agro-pastoral small ruminant production systems that are very prone to PPR incursions is recommended to prevent PPRV spread to low-risk smallholder mixed crop-livestock production systems.

Unsupervised segmentation and clustering time series approach to Southern Africa rainfall regime changes

AbstractAnalysis of hydro‐climatological time series and spatiotemporal dynamics of meteorological variables has become critical in the context of climate change, especially in Southern African countries where rain‐fed agriculture is predominant. In this work, we compared modern unsupervised time series and segmentation approaches and commonly used time series models to analyse rainfall regime changes in the coastal, sub‐humid and semi‐arid regions of Southern Africa. Rainfall regimes change modelling and prediction inform farming strategies especially when choosing measures for mixed crop–livestock farming systems, as farmers can decide to do rainwater harvesting and moisture conservation or supplementary irrigation if water resources are available. The main goal of this study was to predict/identify rainfall cluster trends over time using regression with hidden logistic process (RHLP) or hidden Markov model regression (HMMR) supplemented by autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) and Facebook Prophet models. Historical time series rainfall data was sourced from meteorological services departments for selected site over an average period of 55 years. Commonly used approaches forecasted an upward rainfall trend in the coastal and sub‐humid regions and a declining trend in semi‐arid areas with high variability between and within seasons. For all sites, Ljung‐Box Test Statistics suggested the existence of autocorrelation in rainfall time series data. Prediction capabilities were investigated using the root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE) and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) which indicated not much difference between ARIMA and Facebook Prophet models. RHLP and HMMR offered a unique clustering and segmentation approach examining between and within‐season rainfall variability. A maximum of 20 unique rainfall clusters with similar trend characteristics were determined as going beyond this brought non‐significant difference to regime changes. A clear trend was exhibited from 1980 going backwards as compared to recent years signifying how unpredictable is rainfall in Southern Africa. The unsupervised approaches predicted a clear cluster trend in coastal than in sub‐humid and semi‐arid and the performance was assessed using Akaike information criteria and log‐likelihood which showed improvement in prediction power as the number of segmentation clusters approaches 20.

Interventions to reduce camel and small ruminant young stock morbidity and mortality in Ethiopia.

Morbidity and mortality of young stock is a challenge for livestock producers globally. In Ethiopia, where camels and small ruminants (sheep and goats) are essential smallholder and pastoral livestock, young stock losses can cause severe consequences to livelihoods. This pilot study, part of a Government-led Young Stock Mortality Reduction Consortium project, was undertaken to identify and evaluate interventions to reduce young stock mortality in mixed crop-livestock and pastoral production systems in Ethiopia. Pastoralists and mixed crop-livestock farmers were enrolled by convenience sampling across four regions. Households were sampled with questionnaire surveys to establish baseline mortality risk and prevalence of diarrhoea and respiratory disease in animals younger than one year, and followed longitudinally over a one-year period, with final evaluations conducted from March to July 2020. Mortality risk and prevalence of diarrhoea and respiratory disease before and after implementation were compared using Poisson regression models including household as random effect. Prior to intervention, median camel mortality, prevalence of diarrhoea, and respiratory disease across production systems in the different households was 0.4, 0.44 and 0.2, respectively. This compared to median pastoralist small ruminant mortality risk and prevalence of diarrhoea and respiratory disease of 0.45, 0.32 and 0.18, respectively. Post-intervention, median camel mortality, prevalence of diarrhoea and respiratory disease dropped to 0.1, 0.08 and 0. Similarly, more than half of the small ruminant households reported no mortality, and no cases of diarrhoea or respiratory disease. In camels, rate ratios of mortality risk, prevalence of diarrhoea, and respiratory disease post-intervention compared to the baseline were 0.41, 0.41 and 0.37. In small ruminants, rate ratios were 0.33, 0.35 and 0.46. All reductions were statistically significant (p<0.01). Generally, pastoralists experienced higher mortality and disease prevalence compared to mixed crop-livestock smallholders, and the effect of intervention was slightly higher in pastoralist households. The pilot study findings demonstrated highly significant reductions in mortality and risk of diarrhoea and respiratory disease post-interventions. However, not all households benefitted from the interventions, with a few households reporting increased mortality and morbidity. Many households had very few animals which made it challenging to measure impact and the study was conducted over a single year, without a control group, so between year effects could not be accounted for in the reductions observed. These findings should contribute to improved livestock productivity in Ethiopia.

Characterizing Ethiopian cattle production systems for disease burden analysis.

This paper addresses knowledge gaps in the biomass, productivity and value of livestock for the pastoral, mixed crop-livestock and specialized dairy systems in Ethiopia. Population size, reproductive performance, mortality, offtake and productivity of cattle were calculated from official statistics and a meta-analysis of data available in the published literature. This information was then used to estimate biomass and output value for 2020 using a herd dynamics model. The mixed-crop livestock system dominates the Ethiopian cattle sector, with 55 million cattle (78% total population) and contributing 8.52 billion USD to the economy through the provision of meat, milk, hides and draft power in 2021. By comparison, the pastoral (13.4 million head) and specialized dairy (1.8 million head) systems are much smaller. Productivity varied between different production systems, with differences in live body weight, productivity and prices from different sources. The estimated total cattle biomass was 14.8 billion kg in 2021, i.e., 11.3 billion kg in the mixed crop-livestock system, 2.60 billion kg in the pastoral system and 0.87 billion kg in the specialized dairy system. The total economic asset values of cattle in the mixed crop-livestock, pastoral and specialized dairy systems were estimated as 24.8, 5.28 and 1.37 billion USD, respectively. The total combined output value (e.g., beef, milk and draft power) of cattle production was 11.9 billion USD, which was 11.2% of the GDP in Ethiopia in 2021. This work quantifies the importance of cattle in the Ethiopian economy. These estimates of herd structure, reproductive performance, productivity, biomass, and economic value for cattle production systems in Ethiopia can be used to inform high-level policy, revealing under-performance and areas to prioritize and provide a basis for further technical analysis, such as disease burden.

Determination of feed balance for smallholder mixed crop–livestock farming system in Adwa district of Tigray, Northern Ethiopia

Determination of feed balance for smallholder mixed crop–livestock farming system in Adwa district of Tigray, Northern Ethiopia

Applying circular economy principles to intensification of livestock production in Sub-Saharan Africa

In the context of sustainable agricultural development, much has been made of the need to apply agroecology or regenerative principles to improve rural livelihoods and to align the sector with critical planetary health boundaries. This movement is a reaction to the perceived private and social costs arising from both production and consumption associated with industrialised agriculture, mostly in upper-income countries, with several default assumptions being apparent about applicability elsewhere. The notion of circularity, or the circular economy, is frequently conflated with agro ecological rhetoric, often overlooking a longer tradition of circular resource use efficiency in traditional mixed crop–livestock farming in low-income settings. This paper examines the concept and origins of circularity and reviews some examples of historic circular economy research within the international agricultural research system as applied to smallholder agriculture. These include (i) studies focusing on the impact of crop residue retention, (ii) work on residue incorporation and/or mulching and their effects on crop yields and soil fertility, (iii) research on the effects of manure use on crop yields and soil fertility and (iv) work on the feeding of crop residues to livestock. We consider some promising innovations or practices adhering to circular economy principles. Candidate innovations focus on the improvement of livestock feeding practices including the breeding of dual-purpose crops to enhance livestock nutrition, conversion of cereal straw residues to high-quality feed, use of cassava waste as livestock feed and use of insects as livestock feed. We conclude by considering how circular bio-economy principles might be maintained in the future evolution of food systems in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Trajectories of crop–livestock integration in the context of specialization in Northwest Vietnam

AbstractMixed crop–livestock systems, the world's most widespread farming systems, promote farm resilience through diversification and allow for crop–livestock integration (CLI). Intensification and specialization challenge these systems. In Northwest Vietnam, the standard farm model is based on mixed crop–livestock family farms but is shifting towards more specialized farming systems. The aim of the current study was to identify the new balance between livestock and crops on farms in Northwest Vietnam and to examine the effects of specialization on CLI practices and production system intensification by identifying current CLI practices and performing a retrospective analysis of changes in these practices. One hundred farms were surveyed and 24 interviews on farm trajectories were conducted in Dien Bien district (Dien Bien province) between January and April 2022. Based on the level of CLI and farm diversification, seven types of farms were identified and classified into three categories: (B) mixed farms, (A) farms specializing in livestock and (C) farms specializing in crops. The study of farm trajectories revealed three main changes: the conversion of mixed crop–livestock farms into more specialized crop systems, a change from mixed crop–livestock to more specialized family livestock farms and a change in the management of large ruminant herds and their feed system from free grazing to forage-fed systems. Understanding these changes will help identify drivers and potential constraints to the development of new practices for the integration of crop and livestock farming.

An Ecological Reading of Crop–Livestock Interactions—Gers, Southwestern France, 1950 to the Present

Mixed crop–livestock farming is usually considered to be beneficial for the environment, but the comprehensive characterisation of functional interactions between crops and livestock, and thus the assessment of their ecological relevance, remain problematic. In this article, we design a systemic reading grid focusing on the agricultural practices of crop–livestock interactions, which we organised in four groups according to the agronomic functions they fulfil and the ecological processes involved: (i) animals are used as a source of mechanical energy; (ii) rangelands and permanent grasslands, serving as a source of biomass to manage fertility, are spatially interwoven into the cultivated fields; (iii) on those cultivated fields, non-fodder crops are rotated/associated with fodder crops; (iv) the livestock consume locally produced fodder, grain and straw, and their excreta are spread on cultivated plots. Based on 86 interviews with retired and active farmers, we applied this grid to study the dynamics of crop–livestock integration in a small French agricultural region since 1950. We show that even though the number of mixed crop–livestock farms remains quite high, there has been a massive impoverishment of crop–livestock interactions within these farms. We discuss this trend and the contributions made by the reading grid.

Livestock solutions to regenerate soils and landscapes for sustainable agri-food systems transformation in Africa

Agri-food systems approaches have gained international recognition over the last years. The role of livestock—both in mixed crop-livestock and pastoral systems—in sustainable agri-food systems transformation remains contested. In this review paper we present new analyses of original data from an international livestock expert survey, a quantitative search in Web of Science, and a literature review to unravel the potential for livestock systems to sustainably transform agri-food systems through regenerating soils and restoring degraded landscapes. We (i) illustrate how livestock is important for people and planet alike; (ii) review how to harness livestock's potential for rehabilitation of soils and landscapes; (iii) demonstrate successful case studies of livestock solutions such as improved forages for cut-and-carry systems and grazing management; and (iv) identify four critical steps required for lasting change at continental scale. We conclude that livestock solutions can be key catalysts for sustainable agri-food systems transformation that merit accelerated public and private investments. More research is needed to develop concrete, operational and practical livestock solutions, and measure, monitor and report their contributions and progress toward the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Antimicrobial Resistance of Escherichia coli Isolates from Livestock and the Environment in Extensive Smallholder Livestock Production Systems in Ethiopia.

The objective of this study was to characterize the distribution of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) of Escherichia coli (E. coli) isolated from livestock feces and soil in smallholder livestock systems. A cross-sectional study was carried out sampling 77 randomly selected households in four districts representing two agroecologies and production systems. E. coli was isolated and the susceptibility to 15 antimicrobials was assessed. Of 462 E. coli isolates tested, resistance to at least one antimicrobial was detected in 52% (43.7-60.8) of isolates from cattle fecal samples, 34% (95% CI, 26.2-41.8) from sheep samples, 58% (95% CI, 47.9-68.2) from goat samples and 53% (95% CI, 43.2-62.4) from soil samples. AMR patterns for E. coli from livestock and soil showed some similarities, with the highest prevalence of resistance detected against streptomycin (33%), followed by amoxycillin/clavulanate (23%) and tetracycline (8%). The odds of detecting E. coli resistance to ≥2 antimicrobials in livestock fecal samples were nearly three times (Odd Ratio-OR: 2.9; 95% CI, 1.72-5.17; p = 0.000) higher in lowland pastoral than in highland mixed crop-livestock production systems. These findings provide insights into the status of resistance in livestock and soil, and associated risk factors in low-resource settings in Ethiopia.

Assessment of Economic Efficiency and Its Determents for Mixed Crop Livestock Production under Dryland Agriculture System in the Western Zone of Tamil Nadu, India

In order to accomplish economic, social, and environmental objectives, farm diversification is a significant feature in India’s agricultural systems and rural development. It is crucial to examine factors impacting farm productivity, such as socio, structural, and Circular Economy (CE) factors, in order to ensure the sustainability of varied farms. A decision to follow a farm circularity approach is required to increase agricultural production, return on investment, and achieve sustainability, so the current study was designed to move forward in identifying farm efficiency and their influencing drivers in production systems for the successful execution of circularity in future farms. The objective of this paper is to find the existing operational efficiency of farms, variables that impact a farm’s efficiency, the disparities in farm efficiency, and variables dominating farm efficiency. The efficiency behaviours of Indian farms operating in 2020–2022 were studied and regressed against the factors influencing farm performance. A two-step technique and survey data were employed. To assess variations in the relevance of drivers, an input-oriented Data Envelopment Analysis was employed; in the second stage, efficiency ratings were used as a dependent variable in a Tobit regression analysis. Explanatory variables for enhancing farm performance included social, structural, and Circular Economy (CE) drivers. The age of the farmer, total farm area, and dryland area as socio-structural variables, and reduce, recycle, and redesign as CE variables, have proven to affect the farm’s efficiencies significantly. Managerial implications in terms of technical, allocative, cost efficiency, and their drivers have been drawn from study findings. CE has been confirmed to be the strategy over which the farmer has complete control and has been found to have a more significant impact on farm efficiency. Social structural determents are second in terms of their impact. Farmers in the region have cushy access to inputs; however, they are not utilized to their maximum effect. Therefore, the study indicates that inefficient dryland farmers could increase their production by concentrating on a circular economy strategy.

Influence of farmers’ socio-economic characteristics on nutrient flow and implications for system sustainability in smallholdings: a review

The rise in global human population, coupled with the effects of climate change, has increased the demand for arable land. Soil fertility has been the most affected, among other things. Many approaches to soil fertility management have been proposed by studies in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA); however, the question of sustainability remains. Nutrient monitoring (NUTMON), which combines biophysical and socio-economic features for soil fertility management, gives an in-situ soil fertility status of a given land use system, which ultimately provides guidance in proposing appropriate soil management techniques in a given land use system. In this review, the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) approach was deployed for a systematic search of the literature materials. The review evaluated various studies on nutrient monitoring in SSA soils in order to understand the socioeconomic attributes and their influence on farming systems, as well as nutrient flow and balances. The review identified two dominant smallholder farming systems in SSA: mixed crop-livestock and mixed crop farming systems. Also, this review revealed that most nutrient balance studies in SSA have been done in mixed crop and livestock farming systems. However, regardless of the farming systems, the overall mean nutrient balances in all studies, particularly those of nitrogen (N) and potassium (K), were negative, indicating significant nutrient mining. The review further revealed a vast range of biophysical soil fertility management technologies; however, their adoption has been limited by socio-economic aspects including land ownership, gender, financial position, literacy level, and access to inputs. Therefore, in view of this situation, integrating biophysical and socioeconomic disciplines could address the problem of soil nutrient depletion holistically, thus decreasing the existing negative nutrient balances in the SSA region.

Study on incidence of lamb morbidity and mortality and associated risk factors in the mixed crop-livestock production system of Gewata District, Kaffa zone, southwestern Ethiopia

Lamb morbidity and mortality cause significant loss in a smallholder production system. A longitudinal prospective survey was conducted on 408 randomly selected farmers located in six purposefully selected kebeles in Gewata woreda from June 2020 to July 2021 to determine the incidence of morbidity and mortality in lambs and to identify risk factors. For this purpose, 408 lambs from the Gewata district’s mixed crop-livestock production system were examined every day from birth to three months of age. The data was analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier (K-M) method, the log-rank test, and Cox proportional hazards regression. Results showed that the cumulative incidence of all-cause of morbidity and mortality at the end of three month was 12.86% (95% CI: 10.26–16.13%), and 6.86% (95% CI: 5.03–9.35%), respectively. Diarrhea was the leading cause of morbidity and mortality, accounting for 49.33 and 50% morbidity and mortality, respectively. Pneumonia was the second most frequent cause of morbidity and death. In the K-M hazard analysis, the greatest risk of lamb morbidity and mortality was observed during the first month of life, and then the risk decreased significantly as the lamb grew. Of the 17 potential risk factors studied, the multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression model showed that lamb sex, birth weight, umbilical care, time and method of colostrum feeding were the five predictors that were significantly associated with a higher risk of morbidity, whereas birth weight, lambing difficulty, dams’ parity, method and time of colostrum feeding were the five predictors that were significantly associated with a higher risk of mortality. Moreover, a higher risk of morbidity was observed in lambs with methods of colostrum feeding after birth (HR = 3.158; p = 0.000) and with variations in birth weight (HR = 1.418; p = 0.003). Similarly, the mortality risk was 4.926 (p = 0.047), 4.023 (p = 0.012), and 3.206 (p = 0.000) times higher in lambs with lambing difficulties, at the time of colostrum feeding, and by the method of colostrum feeding, respectively. According to this research, lamb morbidity and mortality rates in the study area are significantly high which has a great impact on the replacement stock and production. Hence, awareness should be created among farmers concerning improved lamb management practices.